REPORT OF THE No. 3 



Sales. 



From Appendix No. 15 one will get a detailed statement of all land sales and 

 patents other than those appearing in Free Grant territory. As was expected and 

 predicted last year the number of sales made and the number of purchasers have 

 very perceptibly dropped. For the fiscal year ending 31st October, 1918, practic- 

 ally only one half of the previous year's settlement was accomplished. The source 

 of supply throughout the war was extremely limited, Ontario being the only field in 

 effect upon which to draw, and the war with its various activities tended most 

 acutely to render it almost impossible to secure the needed settlers. Numbers of 

 the hardy settlers of the North at the call to arms dropped the plough and went 

 forth to their duty, and some of the patented lands thus left were no doubt re- 

 quisitioned by friends and others who might otherwise seek their own homesteads 

 from the Crown. Over 600 settlers on Crown Lands in the North, to the knowl- 

 edge of the Department, enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, and, 

 while numbers of these paid the supreme sacrifice, it is confidently predicted that 

 the others, who seemed satisfied with their lot in their pioneer homes in Ontario 

 will in time return to their farms, which have been retained for them. It is not 

 unreasonable to expect that each will induce his friends to try their lot in the clay 

 belt of Ontario, where health and plenty wait the willing worker. 



As immigration conditions are but problematical it is impossible to adequately 

 forecast an immediate return to a normal improvement in land purchases. 



Feee Grants. 



As predicted in the report for last year there is a notable reduction in the 

 number of Free Grant locations eflPeeted throughout the fiscal year ending October 

 31st, 1918: only 372 Free Grant settlers acquired free homesteads for an area of 

 48,687 acres, whereasi during the previous year over 600 secured locations. An 

 additional area of 4,570 acres was taken by 110- locatees, who had the privilege 

 of purchasing an adjoining farm for grazing or agricultural purposes. 



The number permitted to assign their interests in locations to parties entitled 

 and prepared to continue settlement totalled 166, as against 217 for the year 1917. 

 Patents to the number of 406 were issued, slightly less than for the corresponding 

 period immediately preceding. 



Conditions imposed by the war and the general decline for Free Grant, as for 

 other class of farm land, have materially contributed towards the declining figures 

 in Free Grant transactions. Many of the townships in Free Grant territory ap- 

 pearing in Appendix No. 14 have been opened for years and practically all the 

 choice land therein has been sought, but so long as an occasional lot may be left 

 and desired the township remains in the market and attached to a regular agent. 

 JNo new townships were _02ened during the year under the Free Grant Section of 

 the Public Lands Act as the necessity did not exist, and only the future can with 

 a degree of certainty say to what extent the demand for Free Homestead Land 

 may grow, but at present the outlook for transcending the figures of but a few 

 years ago is not of the brightest. 



Under the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Land Settlement Act, 1'917, free 

 locations along with, other privileges were given to 53 returned men, 49 in the 

 Township of O'Brien f or 5,018 acres, and 4 in the Township of Owens for 477 

 acres. " 



A list of the islands disposed of for Summer Resort purposes in Free Grant 

 territory, may be found in Appendix No. 14. 



